Their Fiery Song
by FaerflyOlivier
Summary: Is Hogwarts really the best the wizarding world can do to educate it's young? Artis, Melle, Susie and Tara are all in the same year as Harry Potter andbut how has it effected the 'lesser beings' of hogwarts.
1. Ireland is where strange tales begin

Their Fiery Song Tara- Ireland is where strange tales begin and happy endings are possible.  
  
Now we have all undoubtedly heard of the 6th year Gryffindor Seamus Finnigan. Isn't that the boy who shares a dormitory with Harry Potter? Yes, that's right.  
  
This story isn't about him though; this story is about Tara Finnigan a 6th year Ravenclaw and coincidently Mr Finnigan's twin sister.  
  
It was nearing the end of the summer holidays; this was a time that produced mixed responses from the Finnigan twins. One half (Tara) was absolutely delighted by the prospect of returning to school to continue her studies and the other half (Seamus) was crest fallen at the prospect of starting a new term full of lessons he had very little interest in, although he was enthusiastic about seeing the rest of the 5th year Gryffindors (especially Lavender).  
  
"Come of Taz!!! We're going to be late for the port key!!" Seamus called up the stairs from the mid-landing on the morning of August 31st.  
  
The Finnigan family was located about 50 miles to the west of Dublin, which inevitably meant that getting to Hogwarts was a little more complex for them than other Hogwart students.  
  
Seamus tapped his foot on the floor making only a faint thud but nevertheless audible to Tara in her room at the top of the staircase.  
  
Suddenly a mass of red curls became visible to Seamus as his Ravenclaw sister tried to drag a bag load of'important books' across the landing above him.  
  
"We would progress a lot if you were to lend me a helping hand" Tara exclaimed somewhat out of breath from the exertion of dragging the heavy bag across her bedroom floor.  
  
"Sigh, Seamus to the rescue" he said in a mock exasperation. Seamus mounted the last remaining stairs to the top landing and proceeded to aid his sister. Once they had heaved the bag down to the mid-landing point Seamus found himself quite out of breath and as he leant over to get his breath back Tara grinned evilly at him.  
  
"Why thank you 'oh great Seamus' you're so strong," the last part of this sentence was proclaimed in an exacting impression of Lavender Brown slightly hammed up for comedic effect.  
  
Seamus' wisely chose to ignore his sister's taunt and she chuckled to herself. Once they had managed to get the bag down to the hallway Seamus picked up the couple of books that had fallen out of the bag on the way down. He looked at the titles on the spines and wondered why on earth Tara would need 101 sheep spells and the complete works of Shakespeare and who on earth was Charles Darwin. He shrugged, if anything it was the sheep spells that worried him the most.  
  
"Why on earth do you need all of these anyway?" he inquired with an air of blasé curiosity.  
  
"The exact same reason you feel the need to fill your trunk with endless (and in my opinion pointless) Quidditch supplies." she said nonchalantly. He sighed, they might have been twins but they couldn't be more opposite.  
  
"You coming?"  
  
"No, I thought I'd stay here for a bit, don't feel like going back to Hogwarts this year." She said, her voice seething with derision.  
  
He shook his head and went to pick up his own belongings ready to take out to the wheelbarrow that their dad kept in the shed.  
  
Three hours later the twins found themselves thrust into the heart of Muggle London completely lost.  
  
"You said you knew where you were going!" Tara said appalled at her brother.  
  
"Well I did, I just don't anymore." Seamus replied sheepishly.  
  
"Why didn't you tell me that before?"  
  
"I thought that I knew the way."  
  
"I can't believe this! This is the last time I trust you to get us anywhere." Tara said exasperated at her brother's stupidity full knowing that there would be many more adventures of this kind in store for the two of them.  
  
"Maybe I could ask someone," Seamus suggested whilst Tara clenched her hand in the strangling position just next to his neck.  
  
"What on earth would you say? "Excuse me do you know the way to a place you've never heard of because I belong to a secret society of witches and wizards?" yes that will work a treat!"  
  
"Do you have any better suggestions? If you're so clever where are we then?" Seamus retorted.  
  
"Why don't you try looking at the map!?"  
  
"Don't patronise me!"  
  
This heated conversation was taking place in the middle of Trafalgar square and was attracting strange looks from more than just the pigeons. Raised Irish accents were filling the square as the twins continued to argue.  
  
"Look we are going to get nowhere if we just stand here . "  
  
"Well I don't think going off having no idea where we are going will help either" seethed Tara.  
  
".And anyway we are attracting unnecessary attention to ourselves."  
  
"Thankfully, archdeacon," she said throwing a usual random (as far as Seamus could see) insult in, "I happen to know that that is Nelsons column which means that we are currently standing in the middle of Trafalgar square."  
  
"Well if you knew that, why didn't you say anything?" Seamus said looking incredulously at the girl he called his sister.  
  
Tara chuckled to herself. "Well you did not ask."  
  
The two finally found there way to the Leaky Cauldron and consequently to one of the main centres of Wizarding life; the famous Diagon Alley. As usual they passed Tom with their usual cheery greeting and Seamus sent him a buoyant "top of the morning" that made Tom grin.  
  
Having collected their school allowance from Gringotts they were then left with the somewhat tedious affair of school supply shopping.  
  
"The sooner we get our school stuff, the sooner we can go off and do our own thing. Deal?" Tara said logically to Seamus who was staring wistfully at Quidditch supplies.  
  
"Deal?" Tara repeated impatiently.  
  
"What? Oh...yes...deal."  
  
After an hour and a half of monotonous shopping for their school supplies the twins finally managed to take the purchases they had acquired back to the Leaky cauldron where Tom said that he would have them sent up to the room that they were to stay in.  
  
After thanking Tom for his help the twins made their way back to the alley.  
  
"So where to now?" Seamus said brightly.  
  
"I do not know where you are off to but I've got book shopping to do!" Tara said in cheery tone to equal her brothers.  
  
"More books?! You have to be joking!"  
  
Tara frowned, "Where are you going then?" she said challengingly.  
  
"Me? Oh I'm off to Quality Quidditch supplies."  
  
She narrowed her eyes but refused to give way to her fury and turned resolutely promising herself retribution another time. 


	2. One seriously pissed off Weasley

Chapter 2- One seriously pissed off Weasley.  
  
The morning of September the 1st saw the Finnigan twins in a state of Frenzy. It was 10.30 and the two had still not left the leaky cauldron.  
  
"Are you ready yet?" called Seamus from the bedroom.  
  
"No, are you?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Then what on earth are you asking me for."  
  
"Well we should be ready and I thought I would subtly make that point." Seamus said through a pile of clothes he was attempting to balance whilst trying to open the bag to pack them.  
  
Tara emerged from the bathroom toothbrush in hand and mouthful of toothpaste and looked at her bother dubiously.  
  
It was 10.45 by the time the two finally left the leaky cauldron. They got into the taxi that Tom had called knowing that the twins would undoubtedly be in a rush to get there.  
  
In their first and second year the two had been fine, they had been living in England at that point, however in their third year they had moved back to Ireland to live in the house that there grandmother had left their mother.  
  
Although they loved Ireland, when they had lived in England it had been definitely less of a rush to get to Kings cross.  
  
They arrived on the platform at 10.57 and were relieved to find the Express stood there with several other latecomers filing onto the train prepared to haggle for decent compartments and share with others.  
  
Once on the train it did not take long for the twins to go their respective ways.  
  
"I'll see you sis." Seamus said pecking her on the cheek.  
  
This show of endearment was met with an icy stare, which softened as Seamus shrugged and turned his back on his Ravenclaw twin. She watched his retreating back for a moment and then shrugged to herself and set out to find her friends.  
  
"Tara!" the voices of two suitably cheery teenage girls who don't spend all their time talking about boys and their appearance echoed around the train compartment that they currently inhabited and then a disgruntled murmur from the direction of Artis told Tara that Artis was also pleased to see her.  
  
"Hi guys." Tara greeted her three closest friends Susan Bones, Melle Clearwater and Artis Flamel with a smile and a friendly hug each, "So, what have I interrupted?"  
  
"The meaning of life" Susan said nonchalantly, "oh and the injustice of man."  
  
"Not much then." Tara replied and they all shared amused smiles.  
  
They continued to talk for the rest of the journey about this and that. Around mid-day they had heated discussion about the causes of the Second World War only to find that they were trying to get at the same thing.  
  
Tara found all this very amusing and could not help feeling pleased to be going back to Hogwarts.  
  
Tara saw Seamus only once during the journey and that was when he burst into the compartment with Dean Thompson and Neville Longbottom.  
  
"Hey there sis! How u doing? No, don't answer that." Tara glared at her brother as the three boys ducked out of view from one seriously pissed off Ginny Weasley.  
  
"Oh don't worry Seamus, you Neville and Dean are quite welcome." Tara said standing up and rounding the three boys to the door where a seething Ginny was standing hands on hips. "Quite welcome to leave."  
  
"What kind of sister gives her own brother away?" Seamus said is mock incredulity.  
  
"A sensible one." Tara said and handed the three boys over to Ginny with a friendly smile.  
  
When she went back into the compartment Susie and Artis were trying to hold their laughter back as Ginny dragged the three boys up the aisle and Melle was wearing an amused smile on her face.  
  
When the express finally reached Hogwarts station Tara and Artis still hadn't finished changing into their school robes.  
  
"Come on guys!" Susie exclaimed. "We will be late." Tara finished first so Artis simply picked up the rest of her uniform stuffing it under her arm. A mass of wavy red hair emerged from the compartment and Artis hopped out with only her left shoe on, her hat wedged under her chin and her house tie undone.  
  
Susan laughed at her appearance. "Want some help there dear?"  
  
Instead of words Artis produced more of a "harrumph rumph rahhh" sound, which made Tara laugh.  
  
The reason for this unexpected sound was that Artis had had to stuff her other sock in her mouth because of her lack of carrying space. She spat the sock out and then looked up and grinned at the other three.  
  
"Some help would be very nice thank you Susan, just in case you don't speak sock."  
  
The four girls made their way down to an empty carriage each holding an item of Artis' school uniform. They selected one of the last relatively respectable looking carriages but were beaten to it by a group of third year Slytherins.  
  
"Humph!" Artis exclaimed as the last of the third years pushed past her. "Typical, no respect for their elders." Tara gave her withering look and strolled off to one of the other less preferable carriages. 


End file.
